The Jury
There’s no place on earth where you can get this many experienced entrepreneurs, investors, professionals and leaders to judge and comment your idea.
The jury feedback alone is an awesome prize, so make your pitch so good that you’ll get into the finals.
And this is not even the full list of all the experts we have to judge your idea.
Bill Reichert is Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, a leading seed-stage and early-stage venture capital fund, based in Silicon Valley. Garage makes seed investments in promising early stage technology companies and works intensively with them to help them to the next step. Some of Garage’s most successful startups include Pandora, Tripwire, LeftHand, Coremetrics, Hoku Scientific, Kaboodle, MiaSole, and Simply Hired.
Bill has spent most of his career as an entrepreneur and operating executive. Prior to joining Garage in 1998, Bill was a co-founder and senior executive at several early-stage, venture-backed technology companies, including Trademark Software, The Learning Company, Infa Technologies, and Academic Systems. Earlier in his career, Bill worked at McKinsey & Co. in Los Angeles, the World Bank in Washington, DC, and Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. Bill earned his BA from Harvard University and his MBA from Stanford University.
Mikko Silventola is a founding partner of Annia Capital, a Nordic investment firm with a global reach. Annia focuses on tangible support, providing entrepreneurs with world-class marketing resources, access to an international expert and customer base as well as experience in building and selling high-growth profitable firms. Additionally he holds the position of Board Member and Founder at Calcus Group (www.calcus.fi), a Nordic publisher of focused Employer Branding and Corporate Branding reports. He is also the Chairman of the Board and Founder at TAEL Group (www.tael.fi), a rapidly growing Digital Content Marketing company.
Mikko has worked with a number of investments including Calcus and TAEL Group. Both companies have gone through a successful internationalization and growth phase during 2010 and 2011, with new branches in Sweden and Norway. Mikko is also actively involved in a number of other investments.
For the past twenty five years as the President of GeoSoft, a domestic and International sales and marketing firm, Owen Greeson has represented clients in Europe, Asia, and America. Starting in 2000 Owen has worked with the Finnish Government assisting software companies with their entry into the US. Over 60 companies from Finland have visited Atlanta and participated in seminars conducted by Owen and his associates.
His background in the personal computer industry dates from 1977 after purchasing a computer kit from Processor Technology and becoming a member of the original Atlanta Computer Club with Dennis Hayes (developer of the first PC modem) where his interest in Data Communications first surfaced.
As the founding Vice President of International Sales and Marketing and equity participant of CipherTrust, Owen helped create a new market segment that eliminates Spam (unsolicited email). In 2006 CipherTrust was sold for $274 million.
Eyal Benjamin, an entrepreneurship-strategy scholar and a serial entrepreneur passionate about innovations. Eyal has established four start-ups by now, two of which were sold. Holding a B.Sc. in engineering from the Tel-Aviv university in Israel; Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation; and a PhD. on the topic of “radical changes in strategy of high technology new ventures” both from the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia.
Currently Eyal heads the StartHub entrepreneurship accelerator program, and acts as a lecturer at the Tel Aviv Yaffo Academic College (Israel).
Helena Mörttinen is the Director of Competitiveness and Growth in Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK). She has a doctoral degree from Helsinki University and has been previously in Nordea bank, European central bank and in Finnish central bank.
Mike Bradshaw is the community shepherd at HammerKit (UK/Finland). As, in his own words, “You should not manage a community, only attempt to look after it”. He is also a dis-organiser of BarCamp Helsinki and other un-conferences, a coach at StartupSauna, helps out at Hub Helsinki, is a driver with the Travelling Salesman project, one of the organiser’s of MobileDevCamp.fi for the last three years, and the holder of a British passport. Some have even seen Mike take on tasks at Slush. So it’s no wonder if some people call Mike ‘the official start-up handyman’. Startups surely respect his effort and help!
Taneli Tikka, one of the most successful Finnish start-up’ers. Taneli’s last official position until very recently was as the Managing Director at Soprano Brain Alliance. Taneli is a serial entrepreneur and the Finnish ICT opinion leader of 2010. He is known from his experience in managing tech startups & social networks such as Dopplr, Muxlim and IRC-
Antti Kosunen, Co-founder of Butterfly Ventures, investing in tech companies in Oulu region.
Serial Entrepreneur, investor and IPR specialist. Has served as CEO of stock listed company, founded and successfully ran global technology businesses in several European countries and the US. Raised funding almost for 100 million and closed deals in 40+ countries.
Anastasia Haysom Varpenius (Australia/Norway), Vice President, Business Development at FXI Technologies
Anastasia’s been in our Jury before, but a lot has happened since… As some of you might remember, Anastasia is originally Australian, but now she has quite recently moved to Norway to join one of the most promising growth ventures in Europe, FXI! FXI is the recipient of the Red Herring Top 100 award among everything else.
Anastasia is also owner at Opal Blue, and is a native Australian serial entrepreneur and investor. Anastasia has over 10 years of experience in global Sales and Marketing & Business Development. Holding numerous executive and Board positions, Anastasia specializes in tailoring corporations towards International expansion by forming automated, successful, and innovative business practices.
Man was born to fly. And so was Mikki Korhonen. He has been busy in brand building for over 20 years in Finnish respectable companies such as Taivas, Euro RSCG Helsinki, G2 and Kuudes Kerros (also one of the founding partners). Now Mikki is a founding partner in the newly established community called Innvolve. With a mission to help new ideas, products and services to become international success stories. Mikki is also a flying force; partner and Member of the Board at FlyNano Oy.
Dr Aarathi Prasad is a science advisor to the British Council, the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations which manages E-idea, an innovative competition that funds, supports and mentors young eco-entrepreneurs, aged 18-35, from seven Asia-Pacific countries; and Skills for Social Entrepreneurs – a social network and online marketplace for social entrepreneurs and the people that support them.
Previously a cancer genetics researcher at Imperial College London, and a science author, Aarathi has appeared on TV and radio programmes, on the BBC, Channel 4, and the Discovery Channel, and written for Wired and other publications.
Dr Tim Whitworth is an IP and Commercialisation Manager for the University of Leeds; a top 10 UK research-intensive University, with a significant spin-out and licence portfolio. Tim manages a broad range of opportunities arising from the research base of the University; from initial invention disclosure through to commercialisation via a licence to an external party, or the formation of a spin-out venture.
Tim’s background is in the life sciences field, with a PhD in molecular biology obtained whilst working in an early stage, biotechnology, spin-out company.
Leila-Mari Ryynänen, Director, New Business Development, Finpro (London)
Leila-Mari focuses on identifying and developing new business opportunities for Finnish companies in global markets. She has more than 20 years’ experience in planning and implementing international growth models for small and medium-sized companies. Her home has been in London for the last 10 years, prior to that she consulted companies and run businesses in The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Canada and USA. Leila-Mari has also been responsible for running a technology programme for Tekes, and acted as a board member for technology and innovation programmes.
Leila-Mari has a solid background in service and wellbeing industries, and expertise in financing solutions for international growth.
Megan Powell Vreeswijk (UK) is a Senior Commercialisation Fellow at Loughborough University, and heads The Studio (a graduate commercialisation hub). She manages The Studio and its activities along with promoting and securing opportunities for the entrepreneurs, potential investors and partners.
Megan has extensive business and entrepreneurial experience in product development, fashion & textiles, and contour fashion, having run her own businesses and help others raise funding and start their business. She has great experience in helping out new entrepreneurs as a start-up Advisor.
Martti Elsilä, private consultant. Martti has been working at Technopolis in various positions and is a Board member at the Venture Cup Foundation. Martti is one of the most respected figures hanging around start-ups, having been dealing with startup-issues a long time. His years of experience in the technology field and with start-ups and innovations speaks for itself. He wasn’t chosen to the Board of Venture Cup for nothing… Martti’s background includes positions as the CEO of Technopolis Ventures Oulutech and CEO of Idesco, among several other positions.
Juhani Saukkonen is a Senior Advisor, Business Development for the City of Oulu, and Executive Director, Global Clusters, for a national business development and investment readiness program. Juhani has been working in the field of Economic Development for fifteen years with special focus on scalable, venture capital fundable start-ups and SMEs.
In the field of Economic Development he has also served as a Program Manager for the software specific technology program of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation and as a Director at a Regional Centre of Expertise Program.
Prior to these activities he has held management positions in three high-tech companies: in 2 software start-ups and in 1 electronics company.
Juhani Saukkonen holds an MBA from the University of Oulu.
Dr. Koo Tae Kang (South Korea) used to be a General Director of Hyundai-Kia Motor Company’s R&D Center for more than 28 years. Professor Kang currently teaches “Venture creation and strategic management of technological innovation” to students of mechanical engineering at Sogang university in South Korea. He is interested in helping students in new venture creation and is actively co-founding new ventures himself, too. When he working at the Hyundai-Kia R&D center, he developed many power trains to install to new vehicles, and was involved in making a number of strategic decisions for the future R&D.
Dr. John Meewella (Sri Lanka). Dr. Meewella is currently serving at the Oulu Business School as: Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship-Management, Managing Director of internationalization expansions in the GCC-MENA region, Managing Director of the Oulu Entrepreneurship Center; Professor of Entrepreneurship, International Business, Supply Chain Management & Foreign Trade at Oulu University of Applied Sciences; Review Team for journals: IJTE, IJBEX & WREMSD; Board of Management for Graduate School of Management and serves on several corporate Boards of Directors. You can imagine we are having hard time trying to figure out how to present John in short and at the same time in full, as he is truly a man of multiple disciplines. So instead of settling in to briefly describing 2 or 3 things about John, we’re dedicating a wider portfolio of his experience here. An exception worth making.
Prior to moving to Finland in late 2010, John served on dual roles as the Managing Director, Emirates Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ECIE) and Lecturer, Faculty of Business & Economics at the United Arab Emirates Universitywhere he was responsible for the overall strategic, innovative and entrepreneurial directions of a government initiative in promoting creativity, innovation & entrepreneurship within the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Within a couple of years of taking on the position of Managing Director at the Emirates Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (ECIE), he helped create a member/staff base of around 2,000 in training, consultancy, start-ups, incubation support, innovation labs, expansion and multi-disciplinary projects.
John is a frequent visiting speaker at such prestigious Universities as Wharton, MIT, Harvard, etc. He has been awarded with certificates and prizes by no less that Sheikhs, and has managed to study a list of dozens of qualifications, including 2 (!) Doctorates in Business Administration and 6 (!) Master’s Degrees in related fields, and multiple other diplomas and courses,currently pursuing his 3rd Doctorate!
John is also the Founder/ Director of Aspire Solutions Group www.aspiresolutions.biz – a social entrepreneurial consulting group based in Australia, UAE, Sri Lanka and Japan – where he is actively consulting to various global academic, corporate, community, training & governmental bodies.
Petri Lehmuskoski, Co-Founder of Gorilla Ventures Oy (a Vigo accelerator) and angel investor
Petri started his first company at the age of 18, and took that company to reach over 120 M€ annual turnover, running operations in seven countries. Today Petri is a portfolio entrepreneur, angel investor and co-founder at Gorilla Ventures accelerator (www.gorillaventures.fi). Gorilla Ventures helps startups to realize their potential.
Göran Andersson is an innovation and technology management consultant. He has long experience in general and innovation management positions in Scandinavian industrial corporations with global operations. Göran has also served on the Boards of several Swedish and Finnish technology ventures. Göran’s focus is on entrepreneurship and leadership as keys to successful commercialization of technology.
Moaffak Ahmed, Co-founder and General partner at Veturi (a Vigo company)
Moaffak is a serial entrepreneur and hands-on early stage investor with 25 years of marketing and business development experience in Europe, North America, and Asia. Moaffak works with passionate entrepreneurs and researchers to translate innovative ideas to significant growth companies. Veturi Venture Accelerator provides seed funding, strategic guidance and hands-on participation.
Mikael Klug (Germany), Founder of Profinet Services, and former Director EMEA Marketing and Communications at More Magic Software MMS GmbH, is well connected in the telecommunication industry and has an excellent track record in bringing IT and telecommunication companies to the German speaking market. Among Mikael’s former clients in his past positions have been such finnish technology heavyweights like Nokia, Sonera, HTD (Helsinki Telecom Deutschland), Ericsson Finland, Tellabs, Tecnomen, Comptel as well as small and middle sized companies like Akumiitti, IOBox, Satama Interactive, Necsom and More Magic Software. 2001 he founded Profinet Services to support international startups in business development, sales and marketing.
Sakari Pihlava, CEO at Vendep (a Vigo accelerator company)
Sakari’s been working with startups and VC financing for quite a while. He has worked for TVM Capital in Munich and Boston, and has worked at the F-Secure Board preparing the Nasdaq OMX listing. Prior to joining Vendep, Sakari worked as a VP for Efecte.
Pia Erkinheimo, Head of Crowdsourcing, Concepting & Innovation at Nokia. Pia is currently responsible for building up systematic idea crowdsourcing capability for Nokia. During her 3½ years of Nokia she has also been working in Nokia Strategy, with innovation acceleration and HR. Before that she has work e.g. for Capgemini, start-ups in the multimedia eLearning and mixed reality domains and as a researcher. For several years the European Commission has invited her as an expert and a reviewer to evaluate research projects in the domain of Information Society Technology.
Markku Mutanen, Co-Founder of Business Angels Finland Oy, and has long experience in various different size companies. Through BAF Markku has a very deep insight into the Finnish private equity ecosystem and start-up scene in general.
Juha Koponen, CEO & Co-Founder, Netcycler. Juha has a D.Sc. degree in Technical Physics from HUT and he was a research fellow in Max-Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics where he conducted experiments with a fusion reactor. During his studies he also worked in 1994 for a few months in CERN doing diagnostics software for the LEP collider. In 1999 Juha joined First Hop, that then started to develop and later sold its software products to over 60 telco operators around the world. Juha worked in many positions, for instance as the VP responsible for the product development and global services business. First Hop was acquired by Airwide Solutions Inc. in December 2007 and then Juha had his exit to launch Netcycler.
Mikko Perälä, co-Founder of Topspot, Codemate + about dozen other companies.
“Lifestyle, afraid of job interviews or a mystical case of insanity” explains Mikko why he’s got himself involved in so many companies – and just building up a new one.
Mikko defines himself as a serial entrepreneur who doesn’t consider country borders a barrier, but rather an opportunity to explore beyond. Mikko wanders around the world setting up small idea-fires, finds the right people to run the idea, and steps back to find the next idea and team. “Plenty of ideas and internal fire driving those ideas, but also impatient and afraid of routines…”
Mikko blogs at http://www.sisubase.fi , and his current involvements include interesting portfolio of companies including e.g. sports management company Topspot Oy, software company Codemate Oy, SisuBase Oy, CubiCasa Oy – 3D visualisation services, Multi Solution Oy and 4DSwing – Golf analysis tool, to name a few.
Kari Kivistö, ‘Chief Innovation Coach’ at YritysTakomo, an idea factory. YritysTakomo is probably best known as the second home for a large number of Oulu-region’s free experts, who’ve all got a spark to build new start-ups and commonly coach each others new ideas and ventures. “Our aim is to connect great ideas with great competencies and to wait and see what happens”, says Kari. And to no surprise, one of Kari’s past positions was at Nokia, as the man in charge of internal Innovation Boosting activities.
Petri Hyyppä, Co-Founder at ProceedIT, ex-Director at Ixonos Plc. At Ixonos Petri was heading EMEA Media and Operator sales and business development.
Petri has wide experience in the areas of technology and business development, having worked for global high tech companies such as Nokia & Ixonos for both R&D and business development functions for the last 14+ years. In the past Petri has been developing and driving new innovations to the market, especially in the areas of video & TV and mobile commerce solutions. During the last few years Petri has been active in creating new solutions for multi-channel media delivery, both for corporate customers and also participating in various pro bono activities such as the NeoArena program and the Mobile Monday activities in Oulu.
Mika Ruostesuo, Ruostesuo Consulting Oy. Mika has a long experience working in software business. He currently runs his own consultancy, sharing his activities between a number of companies. Mika is also the ex-CEO of both Technopolis Ventures Oulu and Ardites. Additionally Mika has worked with Venture Cup as well.
Pekka Räsänen, Keksintösäätiö / Foundation of Finnish Inventions. Pekka is sitting at the Oulu University evaluating innovations and inventions from various fields – and especially many University research spin-offs and student teams.
Pekka has worked since August 1999 in the field of technology transfer from research bench to industry. He has personally evaluated more than 500 (!) business ideas. During this period 20+ research-based start-ups have been established and 60+ licence agreements have been closed between University/Inventor and an industrial licensee. BTW, Foundation of Finnish Inventions is a public pre-seed phase investor.
Heikki Huomo, Co-Founder and Chairman at Reactive Technologies. Heikki is also former director of CIE, Center for Internet Excellence, at the University of Oulu. Mr. Huomo is also a member of ISTAG, advisory group of European Commission on overall strategy for ICT Research and Innovation. Prior to CIE, Huomo has held several management, development and research positions in the technology industry, such as the VP at NXP Semiconductors, CTO for Innovision Research and Technology (now part of Bradcomm), and VP and Director, Nokia Research, Nokia Mobile Phones and Nokia Ventures organization. Mr. Huomo holds several patents in the wireless area and a D.Sc. (Tech) in Engineering Physics from the Aalto University.
Harry Santamäki, CEO and Co-Founder of KoppiCatch Oy, Helsinki-based business accelerator and seed investment company with Vigo status. Harry is a master of new business generation and development. His motto is ”in the morning we do vision work but afternoon we should be already coding the software”. Through his entire business life Mr. Santamäki has been working for new technologies and new businesses for companies like VTT, Nokia Corporation and his own startups, living in Finland and USA. During his free time he enjoys family life and long-distance running.
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Jury members we’ve had in the past;
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Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, Partner at Lifeline Ventures (a Vigo Accelerator)
Ilkka has more than ten years of experience in start-ups, managing growth and international expansion, as well as fund raising and exits. He was the founding CEO of Sumea, which grew into one of the top developers and publishers of mobile games, with a massive distribution network of over 100 channels that included every major European carrier. Based on Sumea’s leadership position in Europe, Ilkka and the company’s founders sold Sumea to Digital Chocolate in 2004. After the merger, Ilkka served as the Managing Director of the European operations for two years before being promoted to President to lead the global publishing operations of the company, which consisted of the studios in Helsinki, Barcelona and Silicon Valley.
In late 2010, Ilkka joined Supercell as the CEO to lead the growth plan of the company, raising a total of $15M in funding and help it become the leader in the next generation online games. Ilkka has graduated with Honors from the Department of Industrial Management at Helsinki University of Technology.
Hannu Kytölä, Founder and Chairman at Vendep, a Vigo accelerator company.
Hannu is probably best known as the Founder of Nettiauto.com which was later sold to Yhtyneet Kuvalehdet, but he has dedicated his last decade and a half to helping and investing in startups, currently running a portfolio of over 20 investments, making him one of the most active investors in Finland and the Nordics. You can bet Hannu has insight into startups, his feedback is well expected by many who enter the competition, I’m sure!
Reidar Wasenius, Founding Partner & CCO at BRIIM Inc (briim.com). He is helping people communicate and evolve. Reidar’s areas of expertise are communications and education. He is a popular speaker at conferences and he is frequently featured in the media. Reidar’s past employers include Samsung, Nokia, TeliaSonera, Digital Equipment Corporation and TEKES. He has mainly been working in business development and marketing. His employers in the media industry include the Finnish National Broadcasting Company, a number of commercial radio stations and the Arcada university of applied sciences, where he was the first Director of the B.A. programme in Media and Communications.
Juha Ruohonen, Aalto Venture Garage Entrepreneur in Residence, currently the head coach for the Startup Sauna -program. Juha is an experienced startupper with successes under his belt, and a history of several VC rounds.
Peter ‘Mighty Eagle’ Vesterbacka, Rovio; The best known Finn in the world, the face of Angry Birds, and the Co-Founder of Mobile Monday and one part of Start Wreck. If we’d have to guess who’s going to be the first emperor of earth, it would be Peter.
Tony Manninen, PhD, Co-Founder, CEO & Lead Designer at game studio LudoCraft Ltd., member of executive board and co-founder at TeamingStream Ltd., Meetius Ltd., and Awardom Ltd. Tony is a computer games designer, researcher and consultant. His areas of expertise include design, analysis and production of collaborative multiplayer games and their diverse applications. Tony started playing digital games in the late 70’s and he has continued the active game playing career ever since. He has designed numerous games and has published game related papers in academic forums, as well as, game reviews and game related articles in popular media. Currently, Tony concentrates on leading LudoCraft in its pursuit of applying and commercialising games and game-like solutions for utilitarian purposes.
Pekka Mattila, Group Managing Director at Aalto EE; Pekka holds a Doctoral degree in Social Sciences, and is focused on strategic marketing and change management/leadership function. He acts as the Group Managing Director at the Aalto University Executive Education group. Additionally Pekka is the Adjunct Professor at Aalto University School of Economics, and Professor at the leadership and marketing in executive education programs. He is a sought after advisor, coach and speaker for both domestic and foreign bluechip companies as well as public sector organisations and non-profits. During recent years Pekka has been published widely on change management and corporate marketing. And among other duties Pekka also acts as the Chairman of the Board of e.g. the Helsinki Festival and 2 specialist corporations.
Minna Isomursu, Research Professor of networked services and (social) media at VTT; Minna’s research tries to find new ways to take advantage of IT and communications technologies in everyday services, such as learning, consuming, and social communications. In her spare time Minna does slightly different type of research in her garden…
Erkki Peltola, Deputy Managing Director at Pohto, The Institute for Management and Technological Training; Erkki is actively helping develop companies both big and small, and runs interesting business model simulations at Pohto… Check them out!
Eero Kaikkonen, CEO at Wantlet; Entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Hantro (1992-2007), raised €20M from Venture Capital investors during four years. Hantro was acquired by On2 Technologies (AMEX: ONT) in 2007. After the merger Eero was CMO at On2 Technologies (07-09) in Clifton Park NY. Currently CEO of Cascard Oy (wantlet.com) (2009 => ), Oulu based consumer marketing service targeting to USA markets.
Niko Mikkola, Director, Turning ideas into Business at CIE (Center for Internet Excellence). During the past year alone, Niko has met and sparred with about 50 new ideas and/or companies in the ICT industry. Some of those new born companies are already on their way to launch their products or services Internationally, so Niko has quite a good overview into what’s hot and what’s not. He has worked in International high-tech business for about 20 years so far, having held leadership positions in business management and R&D, both in the US and in Finland.
Toni Piirainen, CEO and Co-Founder of Codemate, and the co-Founder of a wide range of other companies, including e.g. Fonella, Base International, CubiCasa, etc. Codemate currently employs just over 80 people in Finland, Thailand and Bangladesh, and has just been named as one of the fastest growing companies in Finland! Toni himself is an easy-going guy, it almost looks like he’s not really working but having fun, things just go forward so effortlessly for him.
Pekka Kantola, CEO of OBN (Oulu Business Networks). Pekka is a familiar face at many industry events and leadership forums, always active in educating himself on the newest trends and topics. As a field of specialism Pekka has long experience in quality management, R&D processes and product management from a variety of clients and industries, including automotive, paper and pulp, forestry, heavy machinery, software, etc. Pekka’s past employment includes positions at e.g. Voicebit, Capricode and Soneco.
Tuija Postari-Kivistö, currently coachng wannabe entrepreneurs at YritysTakomo, ex-COO at Codenomicon. She’s also working as a Board member for an accounting company, having done HHJ Board member certification.
Erkki Aaltonen has more than 10 years of diversified experience in business development, sales and partnering in venture capital and telecommunication businesses. He currently works at VTT Ventures, early stage venture capital firm investing in technology and life-sciences, as an Investment Director. Erkki is also Board Director of several VTT Ventures portfolio companies (e.g. Envault Corporation, Hookie Technologies and Aivon), and in addition to those he has been co-founder & board director in several start ups and held various key roles at Nokia.
Erkki believes in the ability of technological innovation to change the world for the better. And loves being a part of that. His mission is to help entrepreneurs create great companies – the kind of enterprises that can transform a whole industry. Lasting benefits that come from genuine innovation, nurtured by the right decisions and careful backing, not just quick profits.
Seppo Salow , Ex-Director of Operation, S60 application at Nokia, has worked in different R&D positions during his 22 years at Nokia from HW to SW. He has been responsible for several phone business development programs as a R&D site manager in Oulu. During the last year as part of the operational activities Seppo has worked with the SW ecosystem building in Oulu and the new SW/service business model creation to speed up mobile application development on different platforms. One of the operative activities in the SW area has been offshoring to low cost countries and the related cost/efficiency analyses. Education: eMBA/TKK Helsinki 2010 and M.Sc. from the University of Oulu.
Matti Pulkka, Partner at OBN. Matti’s specialties include quality, audits, and certifications. His quality-driven career includes such interesting abbreviations as CAF, EFQM, BSC, and IMSProcess. I leave it for You to Google what all these standards and certifications mean… Matti has ran a great number of audits and evaluations across industries.
Mikko Pesonen, CEO of 2C Customer Consulting. Mikko has wide experience in developing services, marketing, and different types of research. His experience covers a variety of industries in both B2B and B2C markets. His expertize has been used by companies of all sizes and public organisations as well. In most cases Mikko’s experience is needed when a new product or service is being developed, or the market potential and concepting of new products or services are being evaluated and analyzed. You can find Mikko’s profile also at https://www.asiantuntijahaku.fi/ah/Mikko_Pesonen
Tapani Raappana, Partner and Chairman at OBN. Tapani’s specialties include International sales and marketing, product development and product management processes. His work experience covers widely telecommunications, electronics, and metal industries. Tapani’s focus has mostly been on B2B markets in Europe, Asia and USA, and he has long experience working in the North American markets.
Pertti Pekkala, CEO of MCon Partners. Pertti has coached well over 300 (!) companies during his career, and has had his fingers on some of the most interesting companies coming from Oulu region. Well versed management consultant with some serious experience to share. Pertti has been involved in numerous consulting assignments with Oulu region public strategy boards, TEKES TULI Board, has IMT and MINT certifications, and several Board memberships from private companies from different fields.